Don’t get carried away with blame

Pointing a finger is easy; tracking down true responsibility is much less so.

As a couple who walk the public nature trail that Cedar Grove constructed on the dike along Steamboat Slough, right beside Cedar Grove’s composting facility on Smith Island, our curiosity was stirred by recent letters and articles accusing Cedar Grove Composting as the presumed source of a “foul” odor, dissimilar from any we had experienced in past visits. So we went out there last week to get a sun-baked, hot-day, current sample of the composting aroma on-site, but no unpleasant smells were encountered.

Besides the drivers who deliver recyclable waste, and Cedar Grove Composting’s own employees on-site, the facility welcomes visitors — customers coming to purchase compost, people who come to learn how the enclosed composting process works, and walkers like us, enjoying access to the serene and scenic nature trail, with its great views of the waterway and wildlife.

As the people who are themselves the first and most-intensely exposed to any odors generated at their facility, Cedar Grove has every incentive to prevent any problem emissions. We can expect that Puget Sound Clean Air Agency will very soon be able to confirm that Cedar Grove has found and corrected any susceptibility in their process to “bad air” days.

Next time some hot spell offers up other occurrences of offending odors, remember that moving air can pick up and combine multiple aromas as it travels (smelly garden pesticides, spilled fertilizer, burnt plastic, roadkill, etc.) — and avoid making any premature leap to a conclusion as to a single source. And for those reported unnamed “separate groups (asking the PSCAA to rescind Cedar Grove’s recently issued permit)”, and their attorney, quoted as “… considering a nuisance abatement lawsuit …”, the same caution applies: Save the notion of “lawsuit” for a situation that actually involves verifiable cause-and-effect accountability, not just a “possible” cause and effect.

Robert N. Geer and Peggy Toepel

Everett